ENVS 101 - Module 2.3 VOCAB

Community ecology

Community ecology

the study of all the populations (plants, animals, and other species) living and interacting in an area

Habitat

the physical environment in which individuals of a particular species can be found

Niche

the role a species plays in its community, including how it gets its energy and nutrients, what habitat requirements it has, and with which other species and parts of the ecosystem it interacts

Niche specialist

a species with very specific habitat or resource requirements that restrict where it can live

Niche generalist

a species that occupies a broach niche because it can utilize a wide variety of resources

Food chain

a simple, linear path starting with a plant (or other photosynthetic organism) that identifies what each organism in the path eats

Food web

a linkage of all the food chains together that shows the many connections in the community

Producer

an organism that converts solar energy to chemical energy via photosynthesis

Consumer

an organism that obtains energy and nutrients by feeding on another organism

Indicator species

a species that is particularly vulnerable to ecosystem perturbations, and that, when we monitor it, can give us advance warning of a problem

Trophic levels

feeding levels in a food chain

Detritivores

consumers (including worms, insects, and crabs) that eat dead organic material

Decomposers

organisms such as bacteria and fungi that break organic matter all the way down to constituent atoms or molecules in a form that plants can take up

Species diversity

the variety of species in an area; includes measures of species richness and evenness

Species richness

the total number of different species in a community

Species evenness

the relative abundance of each species in a community

Resilience

the ability of an ecosystem to recover when it is damaged or perturbed

Ecotones

regions of distinctly different physical areas that serve as boundaries between different communities

Edge effect

the change in species diversity that occurs due to the different conditions that either attract or repel certain species at an ecotone

Keystone species

a species that impacts its community more than its mere abundance would predict, often altering ecosystem structure

Predation

species interaction in which one individual (the predator) feeds on another (the prey)

Competition

species interaction in which individuals are vying for limited resources

Intraspecific competition

competition that occurs among members of the same species

Interspecific competition

competition that occurs among members of different species

Resource partitioning

the use of different parts or aspects of a resource by different species rather than direct competition for exactly the same resource

Symbiosis

a close biological or ecological relationship between two species

Mutualism

a symbiotic relationship among individuals of two species in which both parties benefit

Commensalism

a symbiotic relationship among individuals of two species in which one benefits from the presence of the other but the other is unaffected

Parasitism

a symbiotic relationship among individuals of two species in which ones benefits and the other is negatively affected

Restoration ecology

the science that deals with the repair of damage or disturbed ecosystems

Ecological succession

progressive replacement of plant (and then animal) species in a community over time due to the changing conditions that the plants themselves create (more soil, shade, etc.)

Primary succession

ecological succession that occurs in an area where no ecosystem existed before (ex. On bare rock with no soil)

Pioneer species

.species that move into an area during early stages of succession

Secondary succession

ecological succession that occurs in an ecosystem that has been disturbed but not rendered lifeless